X-ray apparatus



Dec. 22,1925

C. N. MOORE X-RAY APPARATUS Filed March 10, 1922 Inventor. Chester TLTTloore,

bH HIS Attorneg Patented Dec. 22, 1925 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHESTER N. MOORE, SCHENECTADY, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR T GENERAL ELEC- TRIC COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

X-RAY APPARATUS.

Application filed March 10, 1922.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHESTER N. MOORE, a citizen of the United States. residing at Schenectady, in the county of Schenectady,

State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in X-Ray Apparatus, of which the following is a specification.

The present invention comprises an improved X-ray apparatus which contains an X-ray bulb immersed during operation in a body of oil or other suitable insulating material.

Oil .is a more efficient insulator than air,

or other gas. Protection to the operator and patient therefore is afforded by submerging the X-ray bulb in oil in a closed tank ordinarily together with the transformer which furnishes the high potential current for operating the X-ray bulb. This tank has been constructed with a wall adjacent the X-ray bulb consisting of insulation to reduce the possibility of short-circuiting the X-ray bulb by the tank. When.

the operating voltages are very high the X-ray tube is in danger of being short-circuited by an external conductor and, therefore, it is desirable to increase the depth of the oil insulation about the X-ray bulb.

As the bulb is submerged in the oil to a greater depth, the absorption of the X-rays by the oil necessarily also increases.

In order to permit of the most complete insulation of the X-ray bulb, without loss of efficiency by absorption of X-rays in the oil, I have devised an X-ray apparatus in which the oil in the path of the X-rays is largely displaced, for example, by providing the container with a reentrant section, the

40 X-ray bulb being positioned with reference to this section to reduce the thickness of the oil layer traversed by the X-rays, the electrodes of the bulb being insulated by a layer of oil of greater thickness.

The accompanying drawing illustrates an embodiment of my invention in vertical section.

The apparatus shown in the drawing comprises an X-ray bulb 1 having outwardly Serial No. 542,757.

extending arms 2, 3 through which project 5 respectively conductors 4:, 4 connected to a cathode 5 and a conductor 6 connected to an anode 7. The conductors 4 and 6 are connected to the high tension secondary winding 8 of a transformer having a core 9. The conductor 4: is connected to an intermediate point on the secondary adjacent to the conductor 4 so as to provide heating current for the cathode filament (not shown).

The bulb 1 is supported by the insulators 10, 11 from the cover 12, which preferably also consists of suitable insulating material which is transparent to X-ra-ys. for example, bakelite, and which is detachably connected to the said walls of the tank by bolts 13. The cover 12 is provided with a reentrant portion or window 14, which projects close to the portion of the X-ray bulb from which the useful X-rays are transmitted. The thickness of the layer of oil between the terminals of the X-ray bulb and the cover 12 prevents accidental short-circuiting of the bulb by an external conductor, as for example, the body of a patient or a metallic screen. The layer of air which thus displaces the oil at the window 14 has a higher permeability for X-rays than oil.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by LettcrsPatent of the United States, is:

An X-ray apparatus comprising the combination of a sealed container having a wall containing areentrant window which is transparent to X-rays, a filling of oil in said container, an X-ray bulb immersed in the oil within said container and supported at a substantial distance from the wall through which X-rays emerge-to prevent accidental short-circuit of the terminals of said bulb by an external conductor, but being so oriented with respect to said reentrant window that X-rays from. said bulb are projected through only a thin layer of oil be tween said bulb and said window.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set 95 my hand this 9th day of March 1922.

CHESTER N. MOORE. 

